The present invention relates generally to an incineration method and a miniature garbage incinerator. The device of the invention contains provisions for electrical igniting of the garbage, its complete burning in the enclosed chamber and removal of harmful particulate from the exhaust gases before releasing them into atmosphere. The incinerator of the invention may be advantageously used for small waste incineration needs such as with single-family houses and small buildings. It can be easily transported from one site to the next.
Incineration has been determined to be the best way to deal with garbage. Many different types of waste incinerators and furnaces have been proposed in the past. For the most part, these are the large-scale industrial waste treating plants. Garbage is delivered to these sites for burning and further disposal. These devices require supply of fuel and exhaust treatment facilities to prevent polluting the atmosphere with escaping burning gases.
At the same time, there is a need for a small-scale household garbage incinerator so that garbage disposal can be done on site and less volume of trash is transported across the country. Small incinerators may find advantageous use for a single-family household, small apartment building or business complex and alike where they can be positioned in the basement provided environmental and safety concerns are adequately addressed. Small incinerators can be also easily transported from site to site allowing for their rental or otherwise combined use between several closely located sites.
Typically, garbage incinerators require a steady supply of liquid and solid fuel for their operation. For a miniature incinerator to be attractive for use in a single-family household, provisions are needed to eliminate to provide such fuel to the device. Otherwise, it will be of limited or no value due to the complexity of refueling such a device.
Various types of burners and incinerators have been provided to enable individual homeowners to burn trash or refuse. Individual homeowners frequently resort to open burning either on the ground or in a barrel-like container which creates a fire hazard due to flying sparks, hot ashes and the like. In addition, many jurisdictions have enacted legislation or ordinances prohibiting open burning of trash due to the fire hazard and discharge of pollutants into the atmosphere. The following U.S. patents relate to this field of endeavor: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,871,614, 1,955,641, 1,970,727, 3,330,232, and 4,688,494. These patents disclose various types of burners, which basically include an enclosure to receive trash and enable combustion supporting air to enter the enclosure for the trash.
Several varieties of so-called cyclone furnaces and cyclonic incinerators are known, such as for burning fuels, supplying hot gaseous products of combustion for use in dehydration, some introducing waste tangentially through a tube or other suitable means into horizontally or vertically disposed chambers, For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,707,444 to Van Loon discloses a cyclone furnace for burning fine-grained fuels that are entrained in a portion of the combustion medium, which is introduced tangentially into a refractory-material lined chamber. The remaining part of the medium is introduced tangentially into the chamber through a second inlet, and liquid slag is discharged through an outlet that is tangential to the interior chamber wall in a direction opposite to the direction of helical movement of fuel particles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,179,150 to Arnold concerns a furnace for use in dehydration, in which combustion is completed within a refractory-lined combustion chamber so that no flame will be communicated through a flue. Within the chamber, vortex currents of secondary air are opposed to currents of primary air and to burning gases traversing the cylindrical chamber circumferentially in the opposite sense of rotation from the vortex currents of secondary air. When the opposing currents meet at substantial velocities, the impact of the gases upon each other promotes agitation with consequent intermixing so as to result in completion of combustion before the gases resume motion toward the flue.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,054 to Monroe, Jr., a cyclonic incinerator having a start-up temperature of 1,600° F. to 3,000° F. is disclosed wherein the selected temperature is achieved through use of an auxiliary burner. Waste introduced tangentially through feeding means at one end of the chamber is caught up in the rapid cyclonic flow of hot gases in the chamber and is rapidly combusted. The waste can be propelled into the chamber by air or fuel, and rows of nozzles direct air tangentially into the combustion chamber wherein combustion preferably is started by an auxiliary burner axially positioned in one end of the chamber. U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,127 to Angus concerns a cyclone structure for use in controlling the flow of two fluid streams to create a localized inward radial flow and thus is remote from the purpose and features of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,481 by Randall P. Voorhees et al. describes a portable armored incinerator for burning explosive material comprising a primary combustion chamber having armored walls and a loading cart mounted on telescoping rails, and a secondary combustion chamber mounted on a trailer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,591 by Berris M. Anderson describes an incinerator for burning medical waste in a self-contained unit comprising a hopper over a fire chamber connected to a scrubber tank supported on a wheeled conveyor mechanism which is connected to water and gas supply sources. The incinerator is distinguishable for its required scrubber apparatus based on a water supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,196 issued on Apr. 28, 1998, to Beryozkin et al. describes a mobile waste incinerator mounted on a truck having a connected receiving chamber, a preparation chamber, and an incineration chamber. The receiving chamber preheats the waste with recycled exhaust gases. The preparation chamber has small and large cutting blades for reducing the size of the waste. Each chamber is inclined up with the middle chamber being rotatable to 45 degree. The apparatus is distinguishable for its hopper system and rotating cutter blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,271 by Schulze describes a furnace employing incineration trays for burning away explosive substances. The apparatus is distinguishable for employing trailing incineration trays.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,654 by Fleming et al. describes a combustion apparatus for thermal treatment of energetic materials comprising a containment system, which maintains an interface between hot exhaust gas and a cooler gas. The apparatus is distinguishable for its reliance on an interface between hot and cool gases.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,450 by Jaronko et al. describes an apparatus having a wheeled chassis carrying a hopper, shredder and fan for directing air and refuse to a cylindrical member where the refuse is incinerated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,365 by Tseng describes a mobile garbage incinerator with a hanging drum for lifting and dumping garbage into a collecting tank from which the garbage is removed to a main incinerating room, and then to a secondary incinerating room.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,938 by Fujimori et al. describes a medical refuse incinerating vehicle having a main furnace and an after-burning furnace with means for injecting lime water in the main furnace.
Finally, Canada Patent Application No. 2,037,621 published on Nov. 14, 1995, for Minoru Fujimori et al. describes a mobile incinerating vehicle for burning medical refuse having a rotary burner with a three-way valve in the main furnace in which air, oil or lime water is injected. An integral after-burning furnace communicates with the main furnace. The apparatus is distinguishable for its integrated structure lacking a particle separating connecting duct.
The above mentioned and other patents of the prior art do not address the need to provide a safe, small, portable and clean burning incinerator, which is easy to use by a non-trained person and can be used in every day life with high reliability and without a need for separate fuel supply.